The epic hero has a double role. He (there are no epical woman heroes as far as I know) is an individual person with an habitual virtue from which his exploits flow, and he is representative of the group to whom the exploit is important.
Archive | August, 2005
The Primary Epic
The primary epic comes from an oral literary tradition as a possible accumulation of lays or episodes. They are shaped by a literary artist from historical and legendary materials which had developed in the oral traditions of his nation during a period of expansion and warfare.
The Secondary Epic
Secondary epics are also called literary epics and were composed by sophisticated craftsmen in a deliberate imitation of the traditional form. Their efforts is attempt to use again in new circumstances what has already been a complete and satisfactory form of literature. The literary epics are composed more for readers in their structure and language. [...]
Mock Epic
A mock epic, or mock heroic, poem imitates the elaborate form and ceremonious style of the epic genre, and applies it to a commonplace or trivial subject matter; the high brought low. In a masterpiece of this form, The Rape of the Lock, Alexander Pope views through grandiose epic perspective a quarrel between the beaux [...]
Intelligent Falling
The Onion reports that evangelical physicists refute gravity in favor of an “intelligent falling” theory. From the article: “Things fall not because they are acted upon by some gravitational force, but because a higher intelligence, ‘God’ if you will, is pushing them down,” said Gabriel Burdett, who holds degrees in education, applied Scripture, and physics [...]
Holodeck?
C|Net is reporting that a project in Japan plans on marketing a holodeck-like 3D television by 2020. Not only do they propose three-dimensional images and surround sound, but also the ability to transmit touch and smell to produce an immersive experience. The project is part of a larger effort to promote “universal communication”: “a concept [...]
Garfinkle’s Celestial Matters
I’ve been thinking lately about being human. This is not necessarily a new thing for me, but, especially when I teach new media, I find myself drawn to what we humans do and what it is that defines us as human.
